TOM BUDZEN

Situation: As the lead for a hospital system engagement, I encountered a critical operational challenge: 50+ rehabilitation facilities were managing therapist scheduling through fragmented, manual processes. Each location used different spreadsheet systems prone to errors and inefficiencies. This lack of standardization was impacting compliance and wasting significant clinician time that could be spent on patient care.

Task: I was brought in to design and implement a unified scheduling solution across the entire hospital system within a 12-week timeline. The challenge extended beyond technical delivery. I needed to align diverse stakeholders from C-suite executives (CFO, CEO, CTO) down to facility leadership (CNOs, Therapy Directors) and front-line therapists (PT, OT, ST), while managing change across 50 different legacy processes.

Action: I launched a comprehensive discovery process, conducting over 40 stakeholder interviews across multiple regions, facilities, and therapy disciplines to understand the full scope of scheduling workflows and pain points. Using these insights, I prioritized three core features: efficiency (streamlined navigation with minimal clicks), visibility (multi-user access and real-time editing), and adaptability (dynamic schedule adjustment throughout the day). I coordinated cross-functional execution across business, operations, design, training, and engineering teams while implementing a phased, top-down rollout strategy.

Result: The scheduling tool successfully deployed across all 50+ facilities, reducing scheduling time by 75% and significantly improving compliance with clinical protocols. By transforming a fragmented, error-prone process into a standardized, efficient system, we freed up substantial clinician time for direct patient care while establishing a scalable operational foundation for the hospital system's continued growth.

Situation: A large hospital system had developed a patient-facing application but lacked visibility into critical business metrics driving patient volume and operational performance. Without real-time, actionable data insights, C-suite executives were unable to make informed strategic decisions or efficiently delegate operational responsibilities.

Task: Within an 8-week timeline, I was tasked with delivering four high-visibility executive dashboards fully integrated into the client's existing IT infrastructure — including Microsoft Copilot enabled through a shared semantic model, so executives could ask exploratory questions beyond pre-built visualizations, plus machine learning analytics from our data science team.

Action: I served as the project manager, product manager, and primary client liaison, aligning multiple internal teams (Copilot, Fabric, OneLake, Power BI) into a cohesive solution. Given executives' limited availability, I established a streamlined requirements process through a key stakeholder representative. I stayed hands-on: making Power BI adjustments directly, conducting testing, ensuring the semantic model let Copilot answer ad-hoc questions, and coordinating with data scientists and the client's IT teams for a seamless handoff.

Result: The four dashboards delivered real-time visibility into business-critical metrics, empowering C-suite leadership to make data-driven decisions and delegate more effectively. The project's success directly secured a significant follow-on contract for expanded analytics capabilities, and the client can maintain and evolve the solution independently post-handoff.

Situation: As the Product Manager for a rehabilitation healthcare application, I inherited a 4-year-old iOS, Android, and Web app that had become dated and difficult to navigate. Clinicians and patients were struggling with an unintuitive interface that hindered engagement and created friction in the recovery process.

Task: Lead a full UI/UX redesign to create a more intuitive, accessible interface that would increase engagement for both clinicians and patients — requiring deep discovery across diverse user groups and close coordination with design teams.

Action: I worked closely with subject matter experts and UI/UX designers to identify specific areas for improvement, conducting stakeholder interviews and usability assessments to pinpoint navigation challenges and feature gaps. I guided the design team to streamline navigation paths, refresh outdated features, and introduce personalized capabilities aligned with user needs.

Result: The redesigned interface delivered a significantly more intuitive experience for both clinicians and patients, with improved engagement metrics and enhanced clinical workflow efficiency. The modernized platform positioned the product competitively and established a foundation for continued feature development.

Situation: Clinicians using our rehabilitation application lacked real-time access to patient data from Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems, forcing them to toggle between multiple platforms and creating delays in care delivery.

Task: Research and implement a secure, efficient data exchange solution between our application and existing EMR systems — meeting healthcare interoperability standards and data security compliance without disrupting clinical workflows.

Action: I thoroughly investigated the SMART on FHIR framework — its technical standards, security requirements, and implementation best practices. I worked with the development team to design an integration architecture for secure, real-time data exchange, coordinated with EMR vendors and internal stakeholders, and conducted testing to validate data accuracy and system performance.

Result: The integration gave clinicians immediate access to critical patient data directly within our application, eliminating system-switching, speeding up clinical decisions, and contributing to measurably better patient outcomes.

Situation: A client in the oil and gas industry was exploring emerging technologies but needed strategic guidance on whether to build a new solution leveraging machine learning and advanced analytics — and lacked clarity on the technical landscape and competitive positioning.

Task: On a compressed timeline, get up to speed on complex emerging technologies in the sector, assess the competitive landscape, and deliver a well-informed build recommendation.

Action: I immersed myself in the technical details of machine learning applications, data analytics platforms, and industry-specific use cases while running a comprehensive competitive analysis. I synthesized technical insights with market analysis, facilitated collaborative sessions with the client's technical and business teams, and presented clear, actionable recommendations balancing capability, opportunity, and resource constraints.

Result: A confident build decision backed by thorough technical and market analysis. The resulting solution addressed the client's immediate operational needs and positioned them ahead of competitors, with a clear roadmap for development.

Situation: A team was managing complex operational processes through fragmented Google Sheets, creating inefficiencies, data inconsistencies, and scalability limitations. They needed to transition to Salesforce.

Task: Gather detailed information on existing workflows, identify pain points and bottlenecks, and outline comprehensive requirements for a seamless migration that preserved critical workflow logic while introducing automation.

Action: I conducted in-depth stakeholder interviews, documented existing processes, and developed comprehensive process flow diagrams highlighting opportunities for streamlining and automation. I worked closely with the Salesforce implementation team to translate business requirements into technical specifications, maintaining regular stakeholder communication throughout.

Result: A seamless transition fully aligned with team requirements — streamlined operations, automated processes that eliminated manual data handling, better reporting visibility, and a scalable foundation for growth.